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Even still, when Arizona football coach Brent Brennan and UA athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois — the duo hired barely a month apart from each other earlier this calendar year — each stepped onto the artificial surface painted to mimic a football field Wednesday during the latter half of the Big 12’s two-day season kickoff event, there was certainly an air of familiarity.

“It’s fun. This has been a great day. It’s awesome to be back in Allegiant Stadium,� said Brennan, who was joined at the media-heavy event by key UA returnees in quarterback Noah Fifita, receiver Tetairoa McMillan, linebacker Jacob Manu and defensive back Gunner Maldonado. “I have some great memories here as a coach at San Jose (State).�

Most recently, that includes his previous SJSU program earning their seventh win of the 2023 season in Allegiant, a 37-31 victory over host UNLV. The win guaranteed SJSU a third .500 or better season in the past four seasons under Brennan. The Spartans also won here in 2020, making Brennan 2-0 in the building.

For Reed-Francois, the stadium signifies a significant enough accomplishment connected to her time as UNLV’s athletic director. Reed-Francois said June 1, 2017 was her first official day overseeing Runnin’ Rebels sports — her first time at the top of an athletic department organizational map. She said, however, that the day before, “May 31 was our first negotiation with the Raiders — to negotiate the joint use agreement� that would allow UNLV football to depart its half-century-old, open-air, antiquated Sam Boyd Stadium tomaking the new $1.9 billion off-strip dome its home.

“This was a dirt lot,� she added, “so to be able to walk in now as the University of Arizona athletic director, and walk into Allegiant, it’s a pretty surreal experience. Pretty special.�

Reed-Francois, who was at UNLV until 2021 and then Missouri until early 2024, said it’s likely that one of the building’s support beams has her signature on it from the construction process. As part of that joint use agreement, she said, “$700 million of the $2 billion price tag for this was to benefit UNLV.�

Though Allegiant Stadium has only been open four seasons, Arizona football itself has history in the building nicknamed “The Death Star.� Former UA coach Jedd Fisch, whose January departure for Washington opened the door for Brennan’s move to Tucson, coached his first game at the helm of the Wildcats against BYU in 2021 at the Vegas stadium. Though the teams are now Big 12 brethren, the Wildcats lost 26-16 in the nonconference matchup with the Cougars. The Wildcats, now infamously, were 1-11 that year.

— Brett Fera

Wildcat legends Jefferson, Finch to represent UA on Big 12 Alumni Council

Former Arizona basketball standout Richard Jefferson and softball star Jennie Finch will represent the Wildcats in the first-ever Big 12 Alumni Council, the conference announced Wednesday morning.

The Big 12 Alumni Council will have 32 student-athletes from men’s and women’s sports to represent the new 16-team Big 12 conference, which is adding the UA, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado this year. The council will be overseen by Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and vice president of communications and strategy Clark Williams.

“The Big 12 Conference is home to thousands of student-athlete alumni who have had great success on and off the field following their time on campus,� Yormark said in a news release. “As we enter into a new chapter as a 16-team league, the insights and perspectives of the Big 12 Alumni Council will be an incredible resource.�

The Big 12 said the alumni council “was created to leverage the experience and expertise of some of the Big 12’s most notable student-athlete alumni as the conference enters a new era.�

Members of the Big 12 Alumni Council “will receive a variety of resources and amenities, including networking access to the Big 12’s Business Advisory Board for professional networking, league support of council member’s community initiatives, media opportunities on behalf of the league and VIP access to all Big 12 championships and conference events.�

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Steve Young, who is representing BYU on the council, is “thrilled to serve on the first-ever Big 12 Alumni Council.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for the Big 12, and I look forward to being a resource for commissioner Yormark and his team as the Conference continues to thrive,� Young said in a news release.

Jefferson played three seasons at Arizona under late coaching icon Lute Olson, and averaged 11.2 points and five rebounds per game. During his final season at the UA, Jefferson helped the Wildcats to a national runner-up finish. Jefferson carved out a 17-year NBA career and won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. Jefferson also earned a bronze medal with USA at the 2004 Olympics.

Finch, one of the greatest pitchers in UA softball history, led the Wildcats to a national championship in 2001. Finch set an NCAA record with 60 consecutive wins in the circle. Finch’s No. 27 jersey was retired by Arizona in 2003. She also helped USA softball win a gold medal at the ‘04 Olympics and a silver medal at the ‘08 Olympics.

The Big 12 Alumni Council will officially launch next month, when the 16-team league onboards Aug. 2.

The complete alumni council:

Arizona: Richard Jefferson, Jennie Finch

Arizona State: Lawrence Guy, Briann January

Baylor: Whitney Canion, Robert Griffin III

BYU: Steve Young, Ashley Hatch

UCF: Tacko Fall, Shaquem Griffin

Cincinnati: Jordan Thompson, Kevin Youkilis

Colorado: Joel Klatt, Shelley Sheetz

Houston: Andre Ware, Natara Holloway Branch

Iowa State: Ashley Joens, Georges Niang

Kansas: Wayne Simien, Lynette Woodard

Kansas State: Kindred Wesemann Orpin, Tyler Lockett

Oklahoma State: Tiffany Bias Patmon, Brandon Weeden

TCU: Marshall Newhouse, Zahna Medley Kindred

Texas Tech: Cody Campbell, Carolyn Thompson

Utah: Stevenson Sylvester, Charmelle Green

West Virginia: Georgeann Wells, Mike Gansey

— Justin Spears

Three Arizona Wildcats crack EA Sports College Football 25’s Top 100 players list

A week ahead of EA Sports College Football 25’s launch, the highly anticipated college football video game unveiled its top 100 players for the game on Wednesday. Three Wildcats cracked the list.

McMillan, cornerback Tacario Davis and offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea are among the Top 100 players, the game’s developers shared Wednesday.

McMillan has the highest overall player rating among Wildcats (94), followed by Davis (92) and Savaiinaea (90). Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson and LSU left tackle Will Campbell are the highest-rated players in the game. McMillan is the third-highest rated Big 12 player overall.

McMillan, a junior and likely first-round NFL Draft pick, ended his sophomore campaign in 2023 with the second-most receiving yards (1,402) in a season by a UA receiver. McMillan’s career-high happened in the 2023 Territorial Cup game, an 11-catch, 266-yard, one-touchdown performance in a 36-point win over Arizona State. McMillan was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection and received third-team Associated Press All-American honors.

The preseason All-Big 12 selection in McMillan has garnered preseason Athlon Sports All-American honors and was named a preseason All-American by Phil Steele this offseason.

Last season, Davis grew into one of the top defensive backs nationally after leading the Pac-12 in pass breakups (16) and received an 87.5 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus. Davis entered the transfer portal following the departure of former UA head coach Jedd Fisch, but returned to Arizona following the spring practice schedule.

Savaiinaea started all 13 games for Arizona last season — 12 at right tackle, one at right guard. Savaiinaea received a 70.2 grade by Pro Football Focus this past season. Savaiinaea had an 80.6 pass-blocking grade from PFF following his sophomore campaign in 2023.

In EA Sports College Football 25, Arizona will be ranked No. 23 and have an 87 overall rating as a team. The Wildcats are the fourth-highest ranked Big 12 team in the video game behind Utah (10), Colorado (16) and Kansas (22).

Arizona also has the 15th-best offense in the game with an 87 overall rating; the UA defense was not ranked in the EA Sports College Football 25 release.

The name, image and likeness (NIL) era that started in college athletics three years ago carved the path for EA Sports, a subdivision of Electronic Arts, to revive its wildly-popular college football game, but with a rebranded title, EA Sports College Football 25.

EA Sports launched an NIL program for the game that will allow college football players at 134 FBS programs nationwide, including independent Notre Dame, to opt in and offer the company their name, image and likeness for the video game. No FCS schools will be included in the game.

Players who opt-in will receive $600 and a copy of the game. Each team can have up to 85 players in the game. Players can opt-in through Learfield’s “COMPASS� name, image and likeness (NIL) app. Players who don’t opt-in will be converted into a generic avatar. Service academy programs — Air Force, Navy and Army — aren’t allowed to receive NIL compensation, but their players are expected to be a part of the game.

The game will be released everywhere for PlayStation and Xbox consoles on July 19, but pre-ordered users will have early access on July 16. The game is priced at $60 and the “deluxe edition� of EA Sports College Football 25 is $100; the “MVP bundle,� which includes a copy of Madden 25, is $150.

— Justin Spears

He said it

Brennan was asked Wednesday “What makes you kind of the right person at the right time for this job?� The coach’s response, with the Wildcats 19 days out of training camp and 49 days from their first game with him as their head coach: “I don’t know if we know that yet. That will be determined over time. I like to think I am, though. We’ll find out.�

— Brett Fera